I'm a Libertarian living in Humboldt County, CA. I've lived here in Eureka since 1973 and joined the Libertarian Party in 1992. This blog will mostly focus on local political issues, but I may stray into state and national issues as well, when I can't help myself. Please post your comments by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. Although I do moderate comments, you need not be a registered user to post them.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Animal Cruelty

Yet another apparent case of animal cruelty in the news. Stuff like this really makes my blood boil.

That said, I always wonder about felony charges being sought in such cases. Hey, I'd like to slap the daylights out of people who are cruel to animals as many of you would, but do we have space in jail for people who mistreat animals?

It feels good to see felony charges being brought against some jerk, or jerks, but would that jail space be better used for some burglar or rapist? Maybe jail is the proper punishment? I don't know what the proper punishment should be. I guess I should just shut up and let the system do its thing.

In the meantime, if you haven't already been there, head on over to Unchainyourdog.org, check the site out, forward the link around and make a donation to them if you can afford it.

I believe there's also some fliers on that site you can print out and anonymously deliver to people who keep their dogs chained up. If you're one of those people that keeps your dog chained up or locked in a small enclosure all the time, UNCHAIN YOUR DOG!

18 Comments:

Hold on.My dog has the run of a big back yard.But during the day, he chooses - demands, actually, to be in the front yard where everything is happening, all the people go by, other dogs come to visit.He has to be tied there.You'd think he would choose the freedom in the back.But this law is another one size fits all solution aimed at those who abusively tie their dogs and neglect them.

We don't need any more damn laws, Fred. Why can't they just enforce the animal cruelty laws they have?

I don't know that I was advocating any more animal cruelty laws. I did see something a few days ago along the lines of what you might be referring to: There's some law in the works to restrict how long people can tether their dogs, or some such?

I was actually thinking of posting a comment on it but for some reason didn't.

Probably a good thing you tether your dog out front. I know a place here in Eureka. I used to do the lawn there but the people moved out of state.

The new owners moved in and proved to be the kind of neighbors most people hate: The kind you can't help but notice right away for a number of reasons.

One of their gifts to the neighborhood was their dog. They gave it free rein of the entire yard. They'd leave the gate to the back yard open and he could come and go as he'd please. No fence around the front yard.

He seemed to spend most of his time in the front yard by the sidewalk. He was fairly aggressive and I saw him come close to biting a lady walking by. The lady I work for said that dog bit her daughter.

He used to come across the street and bark and growl at me when I'd park there, as I still work across the street from that house. But I always have a bag of dog buscuits in my truck. I threw him a biscuit one day and he's been happy to see me ever since.

I don't know if someone complained to animal control, or not. Last couple times I was there the gate was closed and the dog was nowhere to be seen but for the longest time that dog was a fixture, and a nuisance, in that neighborhood.

Interesting. Usually it's the chained dogs who are mosre aggressive, but not always.A dog who bites is a problem, if mine were to bite, I would get rid of him immediately. Even before the SF dog case made a biting dog an incredible liability.Sad, but you can't take a chance on him hurting someone.

Seems to me that dog ownership is slowly being phased out, more and more restrictions on where you can take them, having to leash them at all times, clean up after them at all times, dogs aren't welcome most places anymore.

With all our laws we are killing ourselves off in the process.

Laws are replacing personal responsibility. People should take care of theri dogs and should have them trained so as not to need a leash, but they don't so we have laws. More and more and more laws.

Woah.... you said if your dog were to bite you would get rid of him!!!!!! well thats the problem there are so many dogs in pounds because people get them and dont take the responsibilty for them... fix the problemm dont just get rid of it!!!!!

Also we need laws because of the stupid people in the world that dont take the proper care of there animals!!!! Without laws more and more animals would be hurt each year... I see it as needing more laws because the ones we have right now arent working!!!!!!!

Why were those animals allowed to stay there that long - that they ate each other, and now it appears they were dying and being killed for a long time, based on the story about the dog graves in the ER today?

A hundred dogs, dead and starving and dying?

How does a thing like that go unnoticed?

Why didn't someone do something? Open the cages. Call the authorities? Feed them? Even shooting them would be kinder than what transpired.

And as long as we as a society fail to recognize proper care of animals and fail to provide oversight and legislation which our Animal Control Officers and Humane Officers can enforce, appropriate interventions regarding animal abuse and neglect will not be addressed.

We need laws. As long as we say it is OK to treat animals like objects and fail to institute local ordinances, state and federal laws to outline care of animals, identify resources and grant monies to curtail such problems, events like the Mad River case will continue.

Animals like children need oversight and regulations. The American Humane Association (founded in 1877) mission is to educate communities on child and animal abuse. They have outlined very clearly the importance of why we need laws and better communication between local government and the commumity.

Also the movement regarding creating laws on pet ownership accountability is increasing. SF is a great example which we should follow. They actually an ordinace which outlines basic care of a dog. An ordinance we need to impelement locally.

Fact: -taxpayers pay billions for owner's negligence.

-Breeders don't pay taxes and they are responsible for 80% of the pet overpopulation!!!

-30% of the rescued animals in shelters are purebreeds.

And why should the animal always get the death sentence when obviously as a society and a community we have not exhausted our resources to train the dog otherwise? We certainly don't apply this logic to children.

The problem is the laws we have aren't being enforced, and problems like this horrific case of neglect and abandonment was shrugged off by the very people who were hired by society to do something about it.

More laws won't stop what just happened, for god's sake it was an ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER, an agent of the law that let this thing go.

The Animal Control Officer is this case needs to be terminated and prosecuted. Just like any other profession there are individuals who fail to do their duty. I think we need to focus on how Trinity failed the community. I have insisted that the Mad River case be added to Trinity's BOS agenda in September.

Trinity like many other counties need to better manage their money and empower those who spend their lives working to improve animal welfare issues in the community.

And yes LAWS will make it easier for those who enforce animal welfare issues. As it stands ANIMALS HAVE NO RIGHTS. They are property. If we did have any regulations on the books the animal welfare advocates and enforcers would not have any ability to do squat.